


Her family

by Rogercat



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Arianne Martell Week 2020, Brother-Sister Relationships, Children, Dorne, Family Bonding, Gen, Sibling Bonding, Sunspear, Teenagers, Toddlers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27861426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: Arianne spends a day with her family
Relationships: Arianne Martell & Doran Martell, Arianne Martell & Quentyn Martell, Arianne Martell & Sand Snakes, Doran Martell & Trystane Martell, Doran Martell/Mellario of Norvos, Oberyn Martell/Ellaria Sand
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4
Collections: Southern Renaissance (Dorne Renaissance)





	Her family

**Author's Note:**

> Mahaad Martell is a OC son of Doran and Mellario born in 289, 13 years after Arianne. Ihsan Jordayne is the name I have chosen for Arianne's grandfather, the previous Prince Consort who was married to her grandmother Aria, the ruling Princess before Doran

It was not without a reason that the commoners whispered of how Daenerys Targaryen blood actually had been a curse for House Martell, for the heavy inbreeding in her birth family affected the children she gave Maron Martell. Out of five children, three of them had died at a young age from being born with frail health. The same pattern were found in the following generations with some of the children stillborn, dead in the cradle or otherwise before adulthood, and while not remembering that event herself, Arianne knew that Mellario had suffered a misscarriage between her and Quentyn, a sister who were lost in the womb. 

“But we have been working hard in every generation since to undo that inbreeding by marrying spouses that are as distant related to the current Martells or even new blood from another family, like our mother.”

Arianne was having her newest baby brother, Mahaad, in her lap as she read him a tale of their ancestors. He was old enough to start crawling soon, so she knew that keeping him still would be a more difficult task later. 

“And more than half of your cousins have different parents too, baby cousin. Aunt Elia has two children each in the two marriages she has, but we generally do not speak of the first prince she married,” Tyene teased the little boy as she suddenly showed up behind her same-aged cousin, holding a rattle in front of his eyes so his attention was stolen from the heiress of Dorne. 

“Gah!” 

Arianne held in a cry of pain as Mahaad hit her nose with the rattle in his eagerness to listen to the sounds it made. It did not hurt too badly, but a clear reminder of how such small children did not always have control over their movements. 

“Here I hoped to make you inherit the knowledge of our abuelo by starting from an early age since he is rather old already and we can not let Sarella be the sole heir to what he has learned over his long life.” 

Their grandfather Ihsan Jordayne, the former Prince consort of Dorne since Aria Martell had passed away a few months before the wedding of her sole daughter to the Targaryen prince nearly ten years ago, was closer to 70 than 60 years of age those days, so most of his grandchildren knew that he might not be alive for many more years. 

“Come on, baby brother, I think you want to be with our mother now.” 

  
  


Mellario smiled at her oldest and youngest child as they arrived to where she had just finished to shave the hair on her head that had grown out over the past weeks. Arianne and Mahaad might be 13 years apart in age, but her daughter said from the start that she had more than enough female cousins, and surely her brothers and cousins only be happy to have another boy among all the girls?

“Wait a moment so I can get my wig on, Mahaad may not recognize me since I always wear my wigs or head scarf around him.” 

One that was done, Arianne asked her mother if she knew what her other two brothers might be. Quentyn was old enough to start his lessons in reading and writing, but Trystane was only two years older than Mahaad and might have escaped from the nursery now as Mellario had been busy with shaving her head. 

“Hm...let us check if he has managed to get out in the palace gardens. I did promise that we would be there today when it is not so warm and Quentyn must have been released from his morning lesson by now.” 

On the way out, mother and daughter took the chance to talk about something not meant to be heard by others. 

“Will we visit Rohan again soon?”

It was some months ago since she last had seen aunt Elia and her cousins, though it had a natural explanation in that Arianne had started to do more duties here at the court in Sunspear that would prepare her for her future as the nezt Ruling Princess. 

“Yes, I believe that your uncle planned a new visit in a few weeks, so perhaps you could come along.”

~X~X~X~X~X~X 

Indeed, Arianne's two brothers were out there in the garden, but not alone. Their father, uncle and cousins had already gathered there to escape the incoming heat in the shadowed parts with a smaller picnic of fresh fruits, olives and hummus, fruit juices to drink, even Ellaria and Ihsan had joined. 

“We felt for some family time outdoors today.” 

With his sons, their ladies and children listening, Ihsan took his time reading an ancient tale from Dorne that he would ask his grandchildren about later. He wanted them to learn whether there was a moral or other sort of hidden meaning in such stories that could be useful for them to know about, as proven by how often the former Prince consort reminded his grandchildren about the very real possibility of that ancient tombs would have body traps to prevent grave robbers from stealing whatever a lord or king had been buried with. 

“Arianne, what is the point of this story that I just told?”

She was ready to give him an answer after listening with great focus in case she would get the question and not one of the Sand Snakes. 

“Change is a matter of life. You must accept it, be it though something you welcome or dislikes.” 

Arianne knew that the deaths of Aerys and Rhaegar had been welcomed in Dorne, but many felt that poor Rhaella and prince Visenys were innocent of what happened to make House Targaryen fall. Now, the last two children of Rhaella was living in exile somewhere in Essos, and even if House Targaryen was restored to the Iron Throne by some help that did not came from Dorne, they would forever be haunted by the ghosts of the horrible deeds committed by their father and older brother. 

“Exactly. I grieved over losing your grandmother to death from that and the five children that she lost either in the womb or in the cradle, but I know that she is with them and undoubtedly will welcome us all when we join them in the afterlife.” 

Ihsan always had some words of wisdom to tell his grandchildren, so Arianne knew that she better listen. For who knew, if his words one day in the future, when she was the ruling Princess of Dorne, could become a leading path for her in a difficult situation where she felt lost in what to do?


End file.
